This study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From

This study aims to determine the reasons for the increase in the frequency of sand and dust storms in the Middle East and to identify their sources and mitigate them. A set of climatic data from 60 years (1960–2022) was analyzed. Sand storms in Iraq are a silty sand mature arkose composed of 72.7% sand, 25.1% silt, and 2.19% clay; the clay fraction in dust storms constitutes 70%, with a small amount of silt (20.6%) and sand (9.4%). Dust and sand storms (%) are composed of quartz (49.2, 67.1), feldspar (4.9, 20.9), calcite (38, 5), gypsum (4.8, 0.4), dolomite (0.8, 1.0), and heavy minerals (3.2, 6.6). Increasing temperatures in Iraq, by an average of 2 °C for sixty years, have contributed to an increase in the number of dust storm

Background: Dolutegravir sodium (DTG), used to treat HIV, faces challenges in delivering effective therapeutic concentrations to the brain due to the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) combined with in situ gels present a promising strategy for enhancing brain drug delivery via the intranasal route. Objective: To compare brain pharmacokinetics of DTGs delivered via NLC-loaded in situ gel intranasal administration with the conventional intravenous (IV) drug solution. Methods: 80 Wistar rats, which were divided into three groups: two groups consisting of 39 animals each and a control group with 2 animals. Rats were administered with a dose of 1.0 mg/kg of DTGs IV, and DTGs NLC-loaded in situ gel were admin

Combining different treatment strategies successively or simultaneously has become recommended to achieve high purification standards for the treated discharged water. The current work focused on combining electrocoagulation, ion-exchange, and ultrasonication treatment approaches for the simultaneous removal of copper, nickel, and zinc ions from water. The removal of the three studied ions was significantly enhanced by increasing the power density (4–10 mA/cm2) and NaCl salt concentration (0.5–1.5 g/L) at a natural solution pH. The simultaneous removal of these metal ions at 4 mA/cm2 and 1 g NaCl/L was highly improved by introducing 1 g/L of mordenite zeolite as an ion-exchanger. A remarkable removal of heavy metals was reported

Urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection that often affects the bladder and thus the urinary system. E. coli is one of the leading uropathogenic bacteria that cause urinary tract infections. Uropathogenic E. coli is highly effective and successful in causing urinary tract infections through biofilm formation and urothelial cell invasion mechanisms. Other organisms that cause urinary tract infections include members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, streptococci and staphylococci species and perch. In addition, K.penumoniae is another important gram-negative bacterium that causes urinary tract infections. With the PCR technique, unseen bacterial species can be detected using standard clinical microbiology methods. In this study, the

The neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have the potential to be inflammatory markers that reflect the activity of many inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NLR and PLR as potential markers of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.

Mature oil reservoirs surrounded with strong edge and bottom water drive aquifers experience pressure depletion and water coning/cresting. This laboratory research investigated the effects of bottom water drive and gas breakthrough on immiscible CO2-Assisted Gravity Drainage (CO2-AGD), focusing on substantial bottom water drive. The CO2-AGD method vertically separates the injected CO2 to formulate a gas cap and Oil. Visual experimental evaluation of CO2-AGD process performance was performed using a Hele-Shaw model. Water-wet sand was used for the experiments. The gas used for injection was pure CO2, and the “oleic” phase was n-decane with a negative spreading coefficient. The aqueous phase was deionized water. To evaluate the feasibilit